Author: Louisa Treger
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1448217393
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 231
Book Description
In a period of civil unrest before the War of Liberation, a wealthy and influential couple leave Britain to make a new life in 1950s Rhodesia. Opening with the shooting of Lady Virginia 'Ginie' Courtauld in her tranquil garden in 1950s Rhodesia, The Dragon Lady, so called for the exotic tattoo snaking up her leg, tells Ginie's extraordinary story. From the glamorous Italian Riviera before the Great War to the Art Deco glory of Eltham Palace in the thirties, and from the secluded Scottish Highlands to segregated Rhodesia in the fifties, the narrative spans enormous cultural and social change. Lady Virginia Courtauld was a boundary-breaking, colourful and unconventional person who rejected the submissive role women were expected to play. Ostracised by society for being a foreign divorcée at the time of Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson, Ginie and her second husband, Stephen Courtauld, leave the confines of post-war Britain to forge a new life in Rhodesia, only to find that being progressive liberals during segregation proves mortally dangerous. Many people had reason to dislike Ginie, but who had reason enough to pull the trigger? Deeply evocative of time and place, The Dragon Lady subtly blends fact and fiction to paint the portrait of an extraordinary woman in an era of great social and cultural change.
The Dragon Lady
Author: Louisa Treger
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1448217393
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 231
Book Description
In a period of civil unrest before the War of Liberation, a wealthy and influential couple leave Britain to make a new life in 1950s Rhodesia. Opening with the shooting of Lady Virginia 'Ginie' Courtauld in her tranquil garden in 1950s Rhodesia, The Dragon Lady, so called for the exotic tattoo snaking up her leg, tells Ginie's extraordinary story. From the glamorous Italian Riviera before the Great War to the Art Deco glory of Eltham Palace in the thirties, and from the secluded Scottish Highlands to segregated Rhodesia in the fifties, the narrative spans enormous cultural and social change. Lady Virginia Courtauld was a boundary-breaking, colourful and unconventional person who rejected the submissive role women were expected to play. Ostracised by society for being a foreign divorcée at the time of Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson, Ginie and her second husband, Stephen Courtauld, leave the confines of post-war Britain to forge a new life in Rhodesia, only to find that being progressive liberals during segregation proves mortally dangerous. Many people had reason to dislike Ginie, but who had reason enough to pull the trigger? Deeply evocative of time and place, The Dragon Lady subtly blends fact and fiction to paint the portrait of an extraordinary woman in an era of great social and cultural change.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1448217393
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 231
Book Description
In a period of civil unrest before the War of Liberation, a wealthy and influential couple leave Britain to make a new life in 1950s Rhodesia. Opening with the shooting of Lady Virginia 'Ginie' Courtauld in her tranquil garden in 1950s Rhodesia, The Dragon Lady, so called for the exotic tattoo snaking up her leg, tells Ginie's extraordinary story. From the glamorous Italian Riviera before the Great War to the Art Deco glory of Eltham Palace in the thirties, and from the secluded Scottish Highlands to segregated Rhodesia in the fifties, the narrative spans enormous cultural and social change. Lady Virginia Courtauld was a boundary-breaking, colourful and unconventional person who rejected the submissive role women were expected to play. Ostracised by society for being a foreign divorcée at the time of Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson, Ginie and her second husband, Stephen Courtauld, leave the confines of post-war Britain to forge a new life in Rhodesia, only to find that being progressive liberals during segregation proves mortally dangerous. Many people had reason to dislike Ginie, but who had reason enough to pull the trigger? Deeply evocative of time and place, The Dragon Lady subtly blends fact and fiction to paint the portrait of an extraordinary woman in an era of great social and cultural change.
Finding the Dragon Lady
Author: Monique Brinson Demery
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1610392825
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
In November 1963, the president of South Vietnam and his brother were brutally executed in a coup that was sanctioned and supported by the American government. President Kennedy later explained to his close friend Paul "Red" Fay that the reason the United States made the fateful decision to get rid of the Ngos was in no small part because of South Vietnam's first lady, Madame Nhu. "That goddamn bitch," Fay remembers President Kennedy saying, "She's responsible ... that bitch stuck her nose in and boiled up the whole situation down there." The coup marked the collapse of the Diem government and became the US entry point for a decade-long conflict in Vietnam. Kennedy's death and the atrocities of the ensuing war eclipsed the memory of Madame Nhu -- with her daunting mixture of fierceness and beauty. But at the time, to David Halberstam, she was "the beautiful but diabolic sex dictatress," and Malcolm Browne called her "the most dangerous enemy a man can have." By 1987, the once-glamorous celebrity had retreated into exile and seclusion, and remained there until young American Monique Demery tracked her down in Paris thirty years later. Finding the Dragon Lady is Demery's story of her improbable relationship with Madame Nhu, and -- having ultimately been entrusted with Madame Nhu's unpublished memoirs and her diary from the years leading up to the coup -- the first full history of the Dragon Lady herself, a woman who was feared and fantasized over in her time, and who singlehandedly frustrated the government of one of the world's superpowers.
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1610392825
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
In November 1963, the president of South Vietnam and his brother were brutally executed in a coup that was sanctioned and supported by the American government. President Kennedy later explained to his close friend Paul "Red" Fay that the reason the United States made the fateful decision to get rid of the Ngos was in no small part because of South Vietnam's first lady, Madame Nhu. "That goddamn bitch," Fay remembers President Kennedy saying, "She's responsible ... that bitch stuck her nose in and boiled up the whole situation down there." The coup marked the collapse of the Diem government and became the US entry point for a decade-long conflict in Vietnam. Kennedy's death and the atrocities of the ensuing war eclipsed the memory of Madame Nhu -- with her daunting mixture of fierceness and beauty. But at the time, to David Halberstam, she was "the beautiful but diabolic sex dictatress," and Malcolm Browne called her "the most dangerous enemy a man can have." By 1987, the once-glamorous celebrity had retreated into exile and seclusion, and remained there until young American Monique Demery tracked her down in Paris thirty years later. Finding the Dragon Lady is Demery's story of her improbable relationship with Madame Nhu, and -- having ultimately been entrusted with Madame Nhu's unpublished memoirs and her diary from the years leading up to the coup -- the first full history of the Dragon Lady herself, a woman who was feared and fantasized over in her time, and who singlehandedly frustrated the government of one of the world's superpowers.
Dragon Lady
Author: Sterling Seagrave
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 648
Book Description
"The last empress of China--Dowager Empress Tzu Hsi (1835-1908)--is remembered as one of history's monsters, an iron-willed concubine who, after usurping power in 1861, ruled from the Dragon Throne for half a century. Her reign, in the aftermath of the Opium Wars and through the Boxer Rebellion until the collapse of the 2,000-year-old empire, has traditionally been seen as one of murder, poison, and intrigue. But the wicked image is false." "In 1974, to the dismay of scholars, Sir Edmund Backhouse--the biographer most responsible for the widespread vision of Tzu Hsi as monster--was revealed to be a con man. And now the author of the celebrated best-seller The Soong Dynasty has undertaken the first complete reappraisal of the empress--exposing Backhouse's writings about her as a major hoax and forgery, and establishing that the most important Western correspondent in Peking during her reign--Dr. George Morrison of the London Times--kept a secret diary contradicting his own dispatches about Tzu Hsi." "Drawing on many unpublished or long-overlooked contemporary sources, Sterling Seagrave shows us Tzu Hsi as a complex woman whose desperate--though often misguided--efforts to hold her country together take on a different coloration in the context of unrelenting foreign attempts to colonize and tear it apart. Far from being all-powerful, she was actually a hostage of vengeful Manchu princes who were using her in a power struggle against both Chinese reformers and foreign interference." "Here at last is an authentic portrait of this fascinating historical figure, as well as insight into the Western craving to believe in a sinister, dragon-haunted Orient. Dragon Lady is at once a compelling biography and the equally compelling story of how a myth was contrived, how it endured, and how, ultimately, the truth has emerged."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 648
Book Description
"The last empress of China--Dowager Empress Tzu Hsi (1835-1908)--is remembered as one of history's monsters, an iron-willed concubine who, after usurping power in 1861, ruled from the Dragon Throne for half a century. Her reign, in the aftermath of the Opium Wars and through the Boxer Rebellion until the collapse of the 2,000-year-old empire, has traditionally been seen as one of murder, poison, and intrigue. But the wicked image is false." "In 1974, to the dismay of scholars, Sir Edmund Backhouse--the biographer most responsible for the widespread vision of Tzu Hsi as monster--was revealed to be a con man. And now the author of the celebrated best-seller The Soong Dynasty has undertaken the first complete reappraisal of the empress--exposing Backhouse's writings about her as a major hoax and forgery, and establishing that the most important Western correspondent in Peking during her reign--Dr. George Morrison of the London Times--kept a secret diary contradicting his own dispatches about Tzu Hsi." "Drawing on many unpublished or long-overlooked contemporary sources, Sterling Seagrave shows us Tzu Hsi as a complex woman whose desperate--though often misguided--efforts to hold her country together take on a different coloration in the context of unrelenting foreign attempts to colonize and tear it apart. Far from being all-powerful, she was actually a hostage of vengeful Manchu princes who were using her in a power struggle against both Chinese reformers and foreign interference." "Here at last is an authentic portrait of this fascinating historical figure, as well as insight into the Western craving to believe in a sinister, dragon-haunted Orient. Dragon Lady is at once a compelling biography and the equally compelling story of how a myth was contrived, how it endured, and how, ultimately, the truth has emerged."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Dragon Lady Today
Author: Chris Pocock
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781500965464
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 102
Book Description
The remarkable Lockheed Martin U-2 high-flying spyplane celebrates its 60th birthday in 2015. But today's U-2 is a fully modernized reconnaissance aircraft, capable of serving the U.S. and its allies for many years to come. Chris Pocock has followed the Dragon Lady for 30 years. He has flown in the jet, and talked to hundreds of U-2 pilots, maintainers, managers and commanders. His previous book, "50 Years of the U-2", is the standard reference on the aircraft's history. Now he updates the story, in a richly-illustrated book with 190 charts and photos, most of them previously unpublished.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781500965464
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 102
Book Description
The remarkable Lockheed Martin U-2 high-flying spyplane celebrates its 60th birthday in 2015. But today's U-2 is a fully modernized reconnaissance aircraft, capable of serving the U.S. and its allies for many years to come. Chris Pocock has followed the Dragon Lady for 30 years. He has flown in the jet, and talked to hundreds of U-2 pilots, maintainers, managers and commanders. His previous book, "50 Years of the U-2", is the standard reference on the aircraft's history. Now he updates the story, in a richly-illustrated book with 190 charts and photos, most of them previously unpublished.
Revenge of the Dragon Lady
Author: Kate McMullan
Publisher: ABDO
ISBN: 9781599613789
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 116
Book Description
After accidentally killing a dragon, Wiglaf hopes his friends at Dragon Slayers' Academy will be able to help him prove himself a hero when he faces that dragon's mother, Seetha, the Beast from the East. Follow Wiglaf's adventures at Dragon Slayers' Academy as he discovers more about his past and what the future holds for him.
Publisher: ABDO
ISBN: 9781599613789
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 116
Book Description
After accidentally killing a dragon, Wiglaf hopes his friends at Dragon Slayers' Academy will be able to help him prove himself a hero when he faces that dragon's mother, Seetha, the Beast from the East. Follow Wiglaf's adventures at Dragon Slayers' Academy as he discovers more about his past and what the future holds for him.
The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady
Author: Sharon J. Mondragon
Publisher: Thorndike Press Large Print
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Publisher: Thorndike Press Large Print
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Within the Sanctuary of Wings
Author: Marie Brennan
Publisher: Tor Books
ISBN: 1466856998
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 337
Book Description
Within the Sanctuary of Wings is the conclusion to Marie Brennan's thrilling Lady Trent Memoirs After nearly five decades (and, indeed, the same number of volumes), one might think they were well-acquainted with the Lady Isabella Trent--dragon naturalist, scandalous explorer, and perhaps as infamous for her company and feats of daring as she is famous for her discoveries and additions to the scientific field. And yet--after her initial adventure in the mountains of Vystrana, and her exploits in the depths of war-torn Eriga, to the high seas aboard The Basilisk, and then to the inhospitable deserts of Akhia--the Lady Trent has captivated hearts along with fierce minds. This concluding volume will finally reveal the truths behind her most notorious adventure--scaling the tallest peak in the world, buried behind the territory of Scirland's enemies--and what she discovered there, within the Sanctuary of Wings. The Lady Trent Memoirs 1. A Natural History of Dragons 2. The Tropic of Serpents 3. Voyage of the Basilisk 4. In the Labyrinth of Drakes 5. Within the Sanctuary of Wings At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Publisher: Tor Books
ISBN: 1466856998
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 337
Book Description
Within the Sanctuary of Wings is the conclusion to Marie Brennan's thrilling Lady Trent Memoirs After nearly five decades (and, indeed, the same number of volumes), one might think they were well-acquainted with the Lady Isabella Trent--dragon naturalist, scandalous explorer, and perhaps as infamous for her company and feats of daring as she is famous for her discoveries and additions to the scientific field. And yet--after her initial adventure in the mountains of Vystrana, and her exploits in the depths of war-torn Eriga, to the high seas aboard The Basilisk, and then to the inhospitable deserts of Akhia--the Lady Trent has captivated hearts along with fierce minds. This concluding volume will finally reveal the truths behind her most notorious adventure--scaling the tallest peak in the world, buried behind the territory of Scirland's enemies--and what she discovered there, within the Sanctuary of Wings. The Lady Trent Memoirs 1. A Natural History of Dragons 2. The Tropic of Serpents 3. Voyage of the Basilisk 4. In the Labyrinth of Drakes 5. Within the Sanctuary of Wings At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Remembering the Dragon Lady
Author: Gerald McIlmoyle
Publisher: Severn House Paperbacks
ISBN: 9781908916938
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
With heightened tensions mounting in the Cold War, President Dwight Eisenhower's request for more accurate intelligence information on the Soviet Union was the spark that ignited the U-2 project. Modified USAF bombers began overflights of the Soviet Union in 1951, but existing lower flying aircraft in the US inventory were vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire and a number of cross-border flights were shot down. To meet the challenge and improve the survivability, the Lockheed Corporation received approval for their revolutionary design of a new recon aircraft on December 9, 1954. The company began work under a heavy veil of secrecy with only 81 people, including 25 engineers. A test pilot flew the first flight on August 1, 1955, after only eight months of production, a record-breaking result for rollout of a new project, especially one this complex and innovative. A dedicated and inventive group of contractors came together to support the project with partial pressure suits for pilots, high-resolution cameras, and an engine that could carry the aircraft to altitudes of 70,000 feet and higher. Nicknamed the Dragon Lady, the U-2 has flown over Cuba, Alaska, North and South poles, Vietnam, Australia, Sweden, New Zealand, and Afghanistan. The U-2 is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. More recently it flew over the hurricane ravaged US Gulf Coast to collect imagery of the destruction over a 90,000 square mile area. First-person memoirs of many of the men who supported the early US spy plane project are included in this book. They include pilots, maintenance specialists, a flight surgeon, photographic specialists and some family members. The US also trained U-2 pilots from Taiwan and the UK and some of their photos and memoirs are in this collection. An example of the entries in the book include one pilot's experience on a flight over the North Pole when he discovered his instrumentation was inaccurate due to the magnetic fields and realized almost too late that he was flying directly toward the Soviet Union. Maintenance technicians recalled working long hours to prepare aircraft for historic flights over Cuba. Photographic specialists remembered the difficult conditions in Vietnam, and the care required to download the exposed film of North Vietnamese targets from the cameras in the aircraft. All of these experiences were achieved under Top Secret security conditions and on a "need to know" basis.
Publisher: Severn House Paperbacks
ISBN: 9781908916938
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
With heightened tensions mounting in the Cold War, President Dwight Eisenhower's request for more accurate intelligence information on the Soviet Union was the spark that ignited the U-2 project. Modified USAF bombers began overflights of the Soviet Union in 1951, but existing lower flying aircraft in the US inventory were vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire and a number of cross-border flights were shot down. To meet the challenge and improve the survivability, the Lockheed Corporation received approval for their revolutionary design of a new recon aircraft on December 9, 1954. The company began work under a heavy veil of secrecy with only 81 people, including 25 engineers. A test pilot flew the first flight on August 1, 1955, after only eight months of production, a record-breaking result for rollout of a new project, especially one this complex and innovative. A dedicated and inventive group of contractors came together to support the project with partial pressure suits for pilots, high-resolution cameras, and an engine that could carry the aircraft to altitudes of 70,000 feet and higher. Nicknamed the Dragon Lady, the U-2 has flown over Cuba, Alaska, North and South poles, Vietnam, Australia, Sweden, New Zealand, and Afghanistan. The U-2 is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. More recently it flew over the hurricane ravaged US Gulf Coast to collect imagery of the destruction over a 90,000 square mile area. First-person memoirs of many of the men who supported the early US spy plane project are included in this book. They include pilots, maintenance specialists, a flight surgeon, photographic specialists and some family members. The US also trained U-2 pilots from Taiwan and the UK and some of their photos and memoirs are in this collection. An example of the entries in the book include one pilot's experience on a flight over the North Pole when he discovered his instrumentation was inaccurate due to the magnetic fields and realized almost too late that he was flying directly toward the Soviet Union. Maintenance technicians recalled working long hours to prepare aircraft for historic flights over Cuba. Photographic specialists remembered the difficult conditions in Vietnam, and the care required to download the exposed film of North Vietnamese targets from the cameras in the aircraft. All of these experiences were achieved under Top Secret security conditions and on a "need to know" basis.
The Art of Return
Author: James Meyer
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022662014X
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 369
Book Description
More than any other decade, the sixties capture our collective cultural imagination. And while many Americans can immediately imagine the sound of Martin Luther King Jr. declaring “I have a dream!” or envision hippies placing flowers in gun barrels, the revolutionary sixties resonates around the world: China’s communist government inaugurated a new cultural era, African nations won independence from colonial rule, and students across Europe took to the streets, calling for an end to capitalism, imperialism, and the Vietnam War. In this innovative work, James Meyer turns to art criticism, theory, memoir, and fiction to examine the fascination with the long sixties and contemporary expressions of these cultural memories across the globe. Meyer draws on a diverse range of cultural objects that reimagine this revolutionary era stretching from the 1950s to the 1970s, including reenactments of civil rights, antiwar, and feminist marches, paintings, sculptures, photographs, novels, and films. Many of these works were created by artists and writers born during the long Sixties who were driven to understand a monumental era that they missed. These cases show us that the past becomes significant only in relation to our present, and our remembered history never perfectly replicates time past. This, Meyer argues, is precisely what makes our contemporary attachment to the past so important: it provides us a critical opportunity to examine our own relationship to history, memory, and nostalgia.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022662014X
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 369
Book Description
More than any other decade, the sixties capture our collective cultural imagination. And while many Americans can immediately imagine the sound of Martin Luther King Jr. declaring “I have a dream!” or envision hippies placing flowers in gun barrels, the revolutionary sixties resonates around the world: China’s communist government inaugurated a new cultural era, African nations won independence from colonial rule, and students across Europe took to the streets, calling for an end to capitalism, imperialism, and the Vietnam War. In this innovative work, James Meyer turns to art criticism, theory, memoir, and fiction to examine the fascination with the long sixties and contemporary expressions of these cultural memories across the globe. Meyer draws on a diverse range of cultural objects that reimagine this revolutionary era stretching from the 1950s to the 1970s, including reenactments of civil rights, antiwar, and feminist marches, paintings, sculptures, photographs, novels, and films. Many of these works were created by artists and writers born during the long Sixties who were driven to understand a monumental era that they missed. These cases show us that the past becomes significant only in relation to our present, and our remembered history never perfectly replicates time past. This, Meyer argues, is precisely what makes our contemporary attachment to the past so important: it provides us a critical opportunity to examine our own relationship to history, memory, and nostalgia.
50 Years of the U-2
Author: Chris Pocock
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448
Book Description
When the U-2 first took off in 1955, no one involved in its top-secret project dreamt that this unique reconnaissance aircraft would still be flying today. The long story of the Dragon Lady is amazing, and complex; this book tells it all, in unprecedented detail, from the early days overflying the Soviet Union under CIA sponsorship, to the Cuban Missile Crisis, and on to the Vietnam War. The epic missions over Communist China were flown by nationalist pilots from Taiwan. How the U-2 was improved, enlarged and put back into production - twice. It led the real-time recce revolution with data links and high-tech sensors. Then it played a key role in Desert Storm, over Bosnia and Kosovo, and most recently over Afghanistan and Iraq. According to the CIA's own historian, Chris Pocock is the foremost authority on the U-2. To write this book, he flew in the aircraft, conducted 250 interviews, and analysed more than 1,000 declassified documents.
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448
Book Description
When the U-2 first took off in 1955, no one involved in its top-secret project dreamt that this unique reconnaissance aircraft would still be flying today. The long story of the Dragon Lady is amazing, and complex; this book tells it all, in unprecedented detail, from the early days overflying the Soviet Union under CIA sponsorship, to the Cuban Missile Crisis, and on to the Vietnam War. The epic missions over Communist China were flown by nationalist pilots from Taiwan. How the U-2 was improved, enlarged and put back into production - twice. It led the real-time recce revolution with data links and high-tech sensors. Then it played a key role in Desert Storm, over Bosnia and Kosovo, and most recently over Afghanistan and Iraq. According to the CIA's own historian, Chris Pocock is the foremost authority on the U-2. To write this book, he flew in the aircraft, conducted 250 interviews, and analysed more than 1,000 declassified documents.